Purpose
The aim of this study was to test the effects of mental exertion involving response inhibition on pacing and endurance performance during a subsequent 5-km running time trial.
Methods
After ...familiarization, 12 physically active subjects performed the time trial on a treadmill after two different cognitive tasks: (i) an incongruent Stroop task involving response inhibition (inhibition task) and (ii) a congruent Stroop task not involving response inhibition (control task). Both cognitive tasks were performed for 30 min.
Results
Neither the inhibition nor the control task induced subjective feelings of mental fatigue. Nevertheless, time trial performance was impaired following the inhibition task (24.4 ± 4.9 min) compared to the control task (23.1 ± 3.8 min) because of a significant reduction in average running speed chosen by the subject. The response inhibition task did not affect pacing strategy, which was negative in both conditions. Heart rate and blood lactate responses to the time trial were not affected by the inhibition task, but subjects rated perceived exertion higher compared to the control condition (13.5 ± 1.3 vs 12.4 ± 1.3).
Conclusion
These findings show for the first time that 30 min of mental exertion involving response inhibition reduces subsequent self-paced endurance performance despite no overt mental fatigue. The impairment in endurance performance observed after the incongruent Stroop task seems to be mediated by the higher perception of effort as predicted by the psychobiological model of endurance performance.
Preterm birth is a global health priority. Using a progestogen during high-risk pregnancy could reduce preterm birth and adverse neonatal outcomes.
We did a systematic review of randomised trials ...comparing vaginal progesterone, intramuscular 17-hydroxyprogesterone caproate (17-OHPC), or oral progesterone with control, or with each other, in asymptomatic women at risk of preterm birth. We identified published and unpublished trials that completed primary data collection before July 30, 2016, (12 months before data collection began), by searching MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, the Maternity and Infant Care Database, and relevant trial registers between inception and July 30, 2019. Trials of progestogen to prevent early miscarriage or immediately-threatened preterm birth were excluded. Individual participant data were requested from investigators of eligible trials. Outcomes included preterm birth, early preterm birth, and mid-trimester birth. Adverse neonatal sequelae associated with early births were assessed using a composite of serious neonatal complications, and individually. Adverse maternal outcomes were investigated as a composite and individually. Individual participant data were checked and risk of bias assessed independently by two researchers. Primary meta-analyses used one-stage generalised linear mixed models that incorporated random effects to allow for heterogeneity across trials. This meta-analysis is registered with PROSPERO, CRD42017068299.
Initial searches identified 47 eligible trials. Individual participant data were available for 30 of these trials. An additional trial was later included in a targeted update. Data were therefore available from a total of 31 trials (11 644 women and 16185 offspring). Trials in singleton pregnancies included mostly women with previous spontaneous preterm birth or short cervix. Preterm birth before 34 weeks was reduced in such women who received vaginal progesterone (nine trials, 3769 women; relative risk RR 0·78, 95% CI 0·68–0·90), 17-OHPC (five trials, 3053 women; 0·83, 0·68–1·01), and oral progesterone (two trials, 183 women; 0·60, 0·41–0·90). Results for other birth and neonatal outcomes were consistently favourable, but less certain. A possible increase in maternal complications was suggested, but this was uncertain. We identified no consistent evidence of treatment interaction with any participant characteristics examined, although analyses within subpopulations questioned efficacy in women who did not have a short cervix. Trials in multifetal pregnancies mostly included women without additional risk factors. For twins, vaginal progesterone did not reduce preterm birth before 34 weeks (eight trials, 2046 women: RR 1·01, 95% CI 0·84–1·20) nor did 17-OHPC for twins or triplets (eight trials, 2253 women: 1·04, 0·92–1·18). Preterm premature rupture of membranes was increased with 17-OHPC exposure in multifetal gestations (rupture <34 weeks RR 1·59, 95% CI 1·15–2·22), but we found no consistent evidence of benefit or harm for other outcomes with either vaginal progesterone or 17-OHPC.
Vaginal progesterone and 17-OHPC both reduced birth before 34 weeks' gestation in high-risk singleton pregnancies. Given increased underlying risk, absolute risk reduction is greater for women with a short cervix, hence treatment might be most useful for these women. Evidence for oral progesterone is insufficient to support its use. Shared decision making with woman with high-risk singleton pregnancies should discuss an individual's risk, potential benefits, harms and practicalities of intervention. Treatment of unselected multifetal pregnancies with a progestogen is not supported by the evidence.
Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.
Behavioural studies have demonstrated that the emotional Stroop task is a valuable tool for investigating emotion–attention interactions in a variety of healthy and clinical populations, showing that ...participants are typically more distracted by negative stimuli as compared to neutral or positive stimuli. The main aim of this study was to find and examine the neural correlates of this greater intrusion from negative emotional stimuli. Reliable reaction time (RT) and event-related potential (ERP) data were collected from 23 participants who performed a manual emotional Stroop task with short (40 ms) and long (500 ms) inter-trial intervals. In the short interval condition, participants were found to produce longer RTs for negative than neutral words, suggesting that these stimuli were more difficult to ignore. This RT effect disappeared in the long interval condition, although larger P1 amplitudes were found for the negative words. This suggests that differences in early attention allocation may be unrelated to the degree of intrusion at the behavioural level. In addition, a larger negative slow wave around 300–700 ms post-stimulus was observed in the long interval condition, but only for those negative words that produced prolonged RTs as compared to their matched controls. This late and broadly distributed effect is believed to reflect suppression of meaning representations.
•Contaminant exposure and health of six Baltic key species was reviewed.•We report organ-tissue endpoints (pathologies) and multiple biomarkers.•Effects on the reproductive and immune systems ...(BSDC)•Significant population declines from POP exposure have been reported.•Future continuous monitoring and assessment is necessary.
Here we review contaminant exposure and related health effects in six selected Baltic key species. Sentinel species included are common eider, white-tailed eagle, harbour porpoise, harbour seal, ringed seal and grey seal. The review represents the first attempt of summarizing available information and baseline data for these biomonitoring key species exposed to industrial hazardous substances focusing on anthropogenic persistent organic pollutants (POPs). There was only limited information available for white-tailed eagles and common eider while extensive information exist on POP exposure and health effects in the four marine mammal species. Here we report organ-tissue endpoints (pathologies) and multiple biomarkers used to evaluate health and exposure of key species to POPs, respectively, over the past several decades during which episodes of significant population declines have been reported. Our review shows that POP exposure affects the reproductive system and survival through immune suppression and endocrine disruption, which have led to population-level effects on seals and white-tailed eagles in the Baltic. It is notable that many legacy contaminants, which have been banned for decades, still appear to affect Baltic wildlife. With respect to common eiders, changes in food composition, quality and contaminant exposure seem to have population effects which need to be investigated further, especially during the incubation period where the birds fast. Since new industrial contaminants continuously leak into the environment, we recommend continued monitoring of them in sentinel species in the Baltic, identifying possible effects linked to climate change, and modelling of population level effects of contaminants and climate change.
Fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) is a rare, nonatherosclerotic arterial disease for which the molecular basis is unknown. We comprehensively studied 47 subjects with FMD, including physical examination, ...spine magnetic resonance imaging, bone densitometry, and brain magnetic resonance angiography. Inflammatory biomarkers in plasma and transforming growth factor β (TGF‐β) cytokines in patient‐derived dermal fibroblasts were measured by ELISA. Arterial pathology other than medial fibrodysplasia with multifocal stenosis included cerebral aneurysm, found in 12.8% of subjects. Extra‐arterial pathology included low bone density (P<0.001); early onset degenerative spine disease (95.7%); increased incidence of Chiari I malformation (6.4%) and dural ectasia (42.6%); and physical examination findings of a mild connective tissue dysplasia (95.7%). Screening for mutations causing known genetically mediated arteriopathies was unrevealing. We found elevated plasma TGF‐β1 (P=0.009), TGF‐β2 (P= 0.004) and additional inflammatory markers, and increased TGF‐β1 (P=0.0009) and TGF‐β2 (P=0.0001) secretion in dermal fibroblast cell lines from subjects with FMD compared to age‐ and gender‐matched controls. Detailed phenotyping of patients with FMD allowed us to demonstrate that FMD is a systemic disease with alterations in common with the spectrum of genetic syndromes that involve altered TGF‐β signaling and offers TGF‐β as a marker of FMD.—Ganesh, S. K., Morissette, R., Xu, Z., Schoenhoff, F., Griswold, B. F., Yang, J., Tong, L., Yang, M.‐L., Hunker, K., Sloper, L., Kuo, S., Raza, R., Milewicz, D. M., Francomano, C. A., Dietz, H. C., Van Eyk, J., McDonnell, N. B. Clinical and biochemical profiles suggest fibromuscular dysplasia is a systemic disease with altered TGF‐β expression and connective tissue features. FASEB J. 28, 3313–3324 (2014). www.fasebj.org
The harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) is the most widely distributed pinniped, occupying a wide variety of habitats and climatic zones across the Northern Hemisphere. Intriguingly, the harbour seal is ...also one of the most philopatric seals, raising questions as to how it colonized its current range. To shed light on the origin, remarkable range expansion, population structure and genetic diversity of this species, we used genotyping‐by‐sequencing to analyse ~13,500 biallelic single nucleotide polymorphisms from 286 individuals sampled from 22 localities across the species’ range. Our results point to a Northeast Pacific origin of the harbour seal, colonization of the North Atlantic via the Canadian Arctic, and subsequent stepping‐stone range expansions across the North Atlantic from North America to Europe, accompanied by a successive loss of genetic diversity. Our analyses further revealed a deep divergence between modern North Pacific and North Atlantic harbour seals, with finer‐scale genetic structure at regional and local scales consistent with strong philopatry. The study provides new insights into the harbour seal's remarkable ability to colonize and adapt to a wide range of habitats. Furthermore, it has implications for current harbour seal subspecies delineations and highlights the need for international and national red lists and management plans to ensure the protection of genetically and demographically isolated populations.
Objectives. The goals of this project were to assess the feasibility of conducting rapid human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing in outreach and community settings to increase knowledge of HIV ...serostatus among groups disproportionately affected by HIV and to identify effective nonclinical venues for recruiting people in the targeted populations. Methods. Community-based organizations (CBOs) in seven U.S. cities conducted rapid HIV testing in outreach and community settings, including public parks, homeless shelters, and bars. People with reactive preliminary positive test results received confirmatory testing, and people confirmed to be HIV-positive were referred to health-care and prevention services. Results. A total of 23,900 people received rapid HIV testing. Of the 267 people (1.1%) with newly diagnosed HIV infection, 75% received their confirmatory test results and 64% were referred to care. Seventy-six percent were from racial/ethnic minority groups, and 58% identified themselves as men who have sex with men, 72% of whom reported having multiple sex partners in the past year. Venues with the highest proportion of new HIV diagnoses were bathhouses, social service organizations, and needle-exchange programs. The acceptance rate for testing was 60% among sites collecting this information. Conclusions. Findings from this demonstration project indicate that offering rapid HIV testing in outreach and community settings is a feasible approach for reaching members of minority groups and people at high risk for HIV infection. The project identified venues that would be important to target and offered lessons that could be used by other CBOs to design and implement similar programs in the future.
Afferent renal nerve fibers from the kidney likely counterregulate salt sensitive blood pressure increases by decreasing renal sympathetic nerve activity. We recently reported on a long‐lasting tonic ...sympatho‐inhibition due to intrarenal afferent renal nerve stimulation eliciting a TRPV1 dependent neuro‐humoral pathway. We wanted to test the hypothesis that sodium influences this afferent sympatho‐depressory mechanism.
Groups of anesthetized SD rats (n=8) were equipped with femoral catheters (blood pressure (BP) & heart rate (HR) recording, drug application), a renal arterial catheter for intrarenal administration (IRA) of high salt (10 % NaCl, 10 μl) or Capsaicin (CAP 3.3, 6.6, 10, 33*10–7 M, 10 μl) and a bipolar electrode for RSNA recordings; eventually an intravenous (iv) bolus of the NK1‐receptor blocker RP67580 (10*10–3M, 15 μl) was given. Cultured dorsal root ganglion neurons (Th11‐L2) of rats with renal afferents were investigated in current clamp mode to assess action potential generation or in voltage clamp mode to investigate inward currents during 10 sec exposure to 4.5 % NaCl or equi‐osmotic 20% mannitol. Results are given in mean±SEM.
IRA high salt and IRA CAP decreased RSNA from baseline 4.1±0.6 μV*sec to 2.2±0.8 μV*sec (10% NaCl, p<0.05) and 3.9±0.5 μV*sec to 0.9±0.2 μV*sec (CAP, p<0.01). Suppressed RSNA in high salt groups and CAP could be unmasked by systemic (i.v.) administration of the NK1‐blocker (2.7±1.8 μV*sec to 5.8±2.2 μV*sec; p<0.05 (10% NaCl); 1.0±0.2 μV*sec to 6.1±1.5 μV*sec; p<0.01 (CAP)). Cultured renal neurons exhibited production of action potentials (3.5±0.8*, from baseline, p<0.05) and increased sustained inward currents from baseline during exposure to NaCl 4.5 % (−10708.8±3546.5 pA*, from baseline, p<0.05). No responses to mannitol 20%.
Increased intrarenal sodium concentrations might induce long‐lasting sympatho‐depression via a neuro‐humoral TRPV1 dependent and tachykinin mediated afferent nerve pathway from the kidney. Impairment of this sympatho‐depressory mechanism could be involved in salt sensitive hypertension.
Support or Funding Information
DFG Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft VE 104/4‐1
This is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this published in The FASEB Journal.
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